Colin Randall

Here at last then is the complete version of Pete Sixsmith‘s account of his visit to Norwich for the Carling Cup game on Monday, a night when several players did their to show Steve Bruce they deserved tio break into the Premier League squad …

Noel Coward once described Norfolk as “very flat”. After our bruising battle with Blackburn, I feared that our performance might echo the words of the Master. Last season, they probably would have done. This season, there was nothing to worry about.

It was a pleasure to re-acquaint myself with the fair city of Norwich. A pleasant drive down (despite the sheer bloody awfulness of the A 17), the B and B found with the minimum of fuss and a pleasant afternoon spent in Norfolk’s only city.

It seemed a city at peace with itself. There have been changes since my last visit in the 80s. Norwich Union has become Aviva, Mackintoshes have shut their chocolate factory and the football club have slid into the third level of English football with barely a whimper. Life is slower here. The accent is gentle and easy going and although the ghosts of the Singing Postman and Sale of The Century reinforce the Partridgeisation of the place, it has a hell of a lot going for it.

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Pete Sixsmith reports on three good points towards – er- the safety by Christmas we knew under Peter Reid, or at any rate in two of his seasons …

By my calculations, only another 34 points needed before we can sleep in our beds, secure in the knowledge that Wear Tyne derbies will be off the agenda for at least another year.

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A good win for each side on Saturday sets us up nicely for tonight’s encounter at Carrow Road. Next up from the ranks of Canaries is Scott Johnson*, again discovered at the Wrath of the Barclay fan site, who maintains the “Delia should stick to the kitchen” theme, thanks Salut! Sunderland for understating the scale of that opening day defeat at home to Colchester and offers an olive branch to Ipswich …

That 6-1 tonking on day one was a real shock. What’s up with Norwich?

It’s been a constant downward ever since we won the Championship really. Our owners were more than happy to portray the club as “little old Norwich” who were simply glad to be there to make up the numbers. It was a mindset that never left us a chance to survive. There’s a story does the rounds here that Bobby Robson (RIP, despite both our two clubs rivalries) was at a dinner just after promotion, and Delia told him our transfer budget for the season. He just laughed, and said ‘no chance’. We spent far too much of our money earned that season on off-field activities, a ploy that as STILL left us £20m in debt. Since then, it’s been a constant case of spending too much on other stuff, selling the good players and replacing them with inferior yet expensive replacements. The final straw was relegation last season.

Bryan Gunn (club legend, unfortunately now permanently tarred with relegation and our heaviest EVER home defeat) was only appointed temporary manager until the end of last season after the departure of Glenn Roeder (boo, hiss ?) and should never had got the job on a permanent basis due to not being good enough to manage. The fact he did so showed a) the ‘cosy’ mentality of our owners and b) the state of our finances. Oh, and c) his daughter set up a Facebook group. That said, he still brought in 12 new players, and we went all pre-season unbeaten, including beating Wigan and Palace.

With regard to our first game this season, gawd love you for keeping it to 6 (a Salut! Sunderland lapse of memory, now correct)- if only our defence had…it was actually 7 ! Unfortunately, as has also been shown in other games, our defence and confidence are so fragile, once we concede one it’s going to be backs against the wall. Too many of our players didn’t perform, the first two goals came from errors, the heads went down and Colchester got their tails up. They looked like scoring every time they attacked….to be fair, they did.

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